


Downpour

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-15
Packaged: 2018-03-30 15:44:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3942388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven and Lapis watch the rain</p>
            </blockquote>





	Downpour

To Steven, his guitar always sounded better when it was raining outside. There was something about the way a storm rolled in and changed the air, something tangible but indescribable with words. He could never describe it, only show it by playing. Which he was. Nothing specific - just messing around with chords and melodies that had come to him in recent weeks. He and the Gems had been in very tall places during the past few missions, so the tunes coming out of his fingers are very floaty and slow, like clouds, not matching the torrential downpour outside his window at all. 

Steven shifted on the bed, trying a chord progression again. There's something there, but he couldn't quite seem to find it. The house seemed to groan in agreement. He tried it again. It still sounded _too_ floaty, like a piece of candy that was too sweet. 

There was a sound behind him. Steven turned, looking out into the Temple proper. The Temple door was closing, and Lapis was crossing the Warp Pad room, her bare feet not making a sound. She'd always been quiet, at least around the other Gems.

"Hey, Steven," she called out, smiling as she saw him. "What are you up to?"

Steven shrugged. "Nothing, really. Playing music and watching the rain."

"Oh, is it raining?" Lapis asked, her eyes lighting up. Steven smiled - Lapis' love of water of all types and sizes was fun to see. "I'm gonna be outside, then."

She made her way from the Temple to the house, to the front door. She paused at the base of the staircase that led up to Steven's room. "Do you want to come with me?"

Steven raised an eyebrow. Normally when Lapis went out, she did so by herself. "Yeah, sure." He set his guitar down and hopped off the bed.

"You can bring your guitar if you want," she said.

Steven looked over at the guitar. "But I don't want it to get wet."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I can protect us from the main."

"Okay," Steven picked up his guitar and followed Lapis out of the house.

Outside, Lapis activated her gem, and a transparent, spherical barrier engulfed them. The rain and wind fell and blew around them, streaking down the transparent sides, and Steven and his guitar stayed dry as he climbed up the Temple statue.

They stopped at one of the remaining hands of the statue. The hand was curved upwards, and Lapis and Steven leaned against the fingers. Steven felt like he was dreaming as he watched the waves pummel the shoreline next to the Temple while he sat completely dry. The piercing _boom_ of thunder occasionally filled their ears, but they sat in silence otherwise. 

Lapis broke the silence. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked as she looked out over the water.

Steven nodded in agreement. Lapis curled her legs up to her chest, wrapping them in her arms. "Back when you first freed me, I hated every part of this planet. But now that I've actually been around the planet and seen it for what it is, there are a couple nice things about this place."

Steven laughed. "You've been free and here for almost a decade and there are only 'a couple of nice things'? I think it's a pretty great place."

"That's because this is your home."

"Well, people don't always think there home is pretty great. Amethyst didn't like the Kindergarten all that much.”

Lapis furrowed her brow. "Well, she sort of does, doesn't she? I mean, she doesn't like it _now_ , but she did when she was there. She has all those rocks that she checks out whenever we go to check up on the Kindergarten."

"And her hole," Steven pointed out.

Lapis shivered. "Ugh, don't remind me. That's so _creepy_. I knew how Kindergarten-gems were made, but I had never actually seen one. It's terrifying, how much damage they can do."

"Yeah." The conversation trailed off, and Steven started strumming. The melody he was working on was slowly coming to be. It was light, like before, but also slower and more thoughtful. It was a song, Steven guessed, that would play under a movie where the protagonist was contemplating important advice in a meadow or field.

A sniffle came from his left. He looks over - Lapis was still watching the ocean, but tears were streaming down her face. Steven stopped playing. "Lapis?"

Lapis shook her head, looking away as she wiped her face. "No, I'm sorry. Please, keep playing. I- I like it."

"Really? You don't seem like you do."

"No, it... reminds me of home. Of the Homeworld."

"Oh." Steven looked down at his guitar. He started playing the melody again. "How does it remind you of the Homeworld?"

Lapis stretched her legs out, her dress rustling against the rocks on the statue's palm. “It doesn't remind me of the Homeworld as it is now. That place is so advanced that I barely recognized it when I was there. But the old Homeworld - the one I consider myself from - it feels like that song, sort of. Everything is - was - just so... _free_. Free and exciting and oh Steven I _wish_ you could have seen it."

She sighed, and the smile that was on her face faded away. "But now I'm here. Here with you and Jasper and Peridot and the rest of the Gems."

"And the ocean," Steven added.

"And the ocean, yes." Steven continued to strum the melody, letting it mix with the rumbles of thunder from across the water and the pattering of rain against the statue. He never knew what to say to Lapis when she got like this, so he elected to stay quiet and let her talk herself through it. Really, what could he say? He was the only one of them who didn't have the sense of lacking belonging in Beach City, or Earth, really. He was the only one that was legitimately comfortable here. Amethyst was second, but even she didn't really have a sense of belonging from the Earth. Steven's attempts to help them in the past always backfired in some way, so he stopped trying. A Gem's problems were solved over time periods much longer than one conversation.

So, he continued to play. Lapis eventually calmed down, leaning her head back against the rock. "I'm sorry," she finally said. "I hate dumping all this on you. You've been so nice to me since we met and I repay you by complaining about your home."

"It's fine," Steven said.

Lapis gave a half-laugh, half grunt of disbelief. "No, it's not. But thank you, anyway."

"For what?"

"The song, mostly. And also for being as friendly as you are. You've made living here... bearable."

Steven grinned. "No problem, Lapis."

"You can stop playing if you want, by the way. Are your fingers tired?"

"A little." He did set the guitar down, however, propping it up against the index finger of the hand. He flexed his own hands, massaging out the exhaustion within them. 

The storm picked up, becoming even more energetic than before. There would be a lot of debris washing up on the shore tomorrow. Lapis moved closer to Steven, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Is this okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," They both watched the waves come and go, the pounding of water into sand filling their ears. At some point, Lapis' hand entwined itself in Steven's. 

"This life isn't so bad," Lapis said after a while.

And Steven couldn't help but agree.

**Author's Note:**

> Headcannon: Lapis likes rain, and if Steven had to pick a Gem, he'd pick Lapis
> 
> The entirety of this was drafted during a huge thunderstorm.


End file.
